Wilkie asks Commonwealth for health bail out

Updated
June 05, 2012 19:08:00

Tasmanian doctors and nurses who've been meeting the federal health minister have told her that the state's health system is in crisis and in danger of imploding. The federal minister says she's dissapointed that the state is cutting 100 million dollars a year from health. But the key Independent MP Andrew Wilkie is asking the Commonwealth to put 100 million dollars a year back into Tasmania health - and he got that figure from the state government.

TANYA PLIBERSEK: I certainly don't want to see people waiting more than the clinically recommended time for elective surgery.

I don't people waiting hours and hours in emergency departments. And so there is a strong impetus on us to help where we can.

FELICITY OGILVIE: The Tasmanian head of the Australian Nursing Federation, Neroli Ellis, says patients are already waiting too long.

NEROLI ELLIS: We see extreme delays in our emergency departments and elective surgery requiring a bed in addition is almost extinct. We just find them being (inaudible) on a daily basis because so many acute beds are being closed across this state.

FELICITY OGILVIE: Mrs Ellis says that a quarter of all the state's hospital beds have been closed because of the state budget cuts.

The head of the AMA, Dr John Davis, describes it as a crisis.

JOHN DAVIS: We've got a crisis in delivering acute care to the population of Tasmania, care that Tasmanians deserve to have delivered equally to anyone else in Australia.

She'll continue her Tasmanian tour tomorrow, visiting hospitals in Launceston and Burnie. But the picture of the state's health problems is already becoming clear.

TANYA PLIBERSEK: And there seems to be a strong consensus that the Tasmanian health budget is under a great deal of pressure and that because Tasmania has an ageing population, it has a higher chronic disease burden than other states and territories.

And because it has a small population that's dispersed across the state, that there are particular circumstances in Tasmania that warrant extra attention.

FELICITY OGILVIE: The attention that the key Independent, Andrew Wilkie, is looking for is money.

Following advice from the state government, Mr Wilkie has asked the Commonwealth for $100 million every year for the next four years.

That's exactly how much money the state government is cutting from the state health budget.

ANDREW WILKIE: I mean obviously numbers are tight in the Federal Parliament and I'm in a position of added influence at the moment. But I think to be fair to the Federal Minister, to the Prime Minister, to her Labor Party colleagues, I think at the end of the day what's driving this more than anything is genuinely a realisation that we've got a real problem and we need help.

FELICITY OGILVIE: The Federal Health Minister won't say how much money is on the table but Tanya Plibersek made it clear that any funding will come with conditions.

TANYA PLIBERSEK: I will be very clear about my expectations of the Tasmanian Government should any extra funding flow. There is no way that we'll be pouring money in the top of the bucket if there's a hole in the bottom of the bucket; absolutely no way.

FELICITY OGILVIE: The Tasmanian Premier, Lara Giddings, says the state health system needs to become more efficient.

LARA GIDDINGS: We cannot always have our hand out to Canberra. We must be able to look after our own health and wellbeing as well and that means we need to understand why it's more expensive to provide health services here than a like hospital in other parts of regional Australia.

FELICITY OGILVIE: Andrew Wilkie wants the Commonwealth to take over the Tasmanian health system but the Federal Minister has again ruled that out.